Daily Archives: September 30, 2015

Hoot & Howl Your Way through Bearizona during the Howly Growly Owly Festival

Posted on by

Howly-7280WILLIAMS — Bearizona is hosting Howly Growly Owly Festival weekends in October. Visitors are encouraged to dress up in costume and kids that do will get a “beary” special treat!

Festivities Include:

Howl-O-Ween Express: Hop on the windowless bus that takes visitors through the drive-through animal exhibits. This is about as close as you are going to get to our animals, so you don’t want to miss out. Patrons can howl with the wolves in the Alaskan Tundra & Arctic Wolf enclosure and watch the bison interact with a special Howl-O-Ween enrichment treat. Bus rides depart from the Fort Bearizona parking lot at 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. every Friday and 10:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 2:00 p.m. & 4:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday in October.

Growly Bear Cave: Check out our array of jack-o-lanterns that adorn the inside of the Kindergarten Bear Cave.

Scarizona at Bearizona Haunted House: Those who dare can walk through our super scary Haunted House (PG-13 Rated) open Friday 12:00p.m.-5:00p.m. Saturday ave Sunday 10:00a.m-5:00p.m.

Raptor Show: Guests should plan to catch an Owly Raptor Show at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m., after visiting Fort Bearizona’s baby and smaller animals.

Photo Ops: Several areas of the park are decorated in different themes so visitors can take photos with their families.

Scavenger Hunts: Both adults and children can get in on this fun activity. Check in at the front of Fort Bearizona Walk Through with the attendant and get your scavenger hunt form. After you complete the scavenger hunt make sure to turn in your card at the gift shop for a prize.

Bearizona’s mission is to promote conservation through memorable and educational encounters with North American wildlife in a natural environment.

ADEQ Lifts Fish Consumption Advisory for Gila River and Tributaries

Posted on by

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) announced today that it has lifted the consumption advisory for fish caught in the Gila River and its tributaries within and downstream of the Phoenix metropolitan area – this includes 100 miles of streams and 286 acres of lakes. Fish caught from these waters are no longer unsafe to eat due to banned pesticides (DDT, chlordane or toxaphene).

“This is the first time ADEQ has lifted a fish consumption advisory,” said ADEQ Water Quality Division Director Trevor Baggiore. “Fish tested by ADEQ and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that banned pesticides no longer pose a health risk in the Gila River and its tributaries.”

Lifting this advisory, which has been in place for 24 years, is credited to the cessation of the use of the pesticides in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Detailed information about the delisting of the Gila River and its tributaries can be found at:

Click to access delisting_hassayampa.pdf

ADEQ and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tested 67 fish tissue samples from eight different fish species in the Gila River and several of its tributaries west of Phoenix during 2011 and 2012. Fish tissue data demonstrated banned pesticide levels (DDT, toxaphene and chlordane) dropped from more than 160 times higher than threshold levels designed to protect human health in the 1990’s, to 16 times lower than these thresholds in 2011 and 2012.

On March 10, 2015, ADEQ requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) remove the Gila River and its tributaries from Arizona’s Impaired Waters List, which EPA approved August 7, 2015. Each water body removed from the list also had a fish consumption advisory in effect. ADEQ has lifted the fish consumption advisory for the following waterbodies:
capture_original
map_original

Resources

ADEQ Fish Consumption Advisory Fact Sheet (PDF):
https://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/assessment/download/fca.pdf

ADEQ Water Quality Division Monitoring and Assessment:
http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/water/assessment/index.html

Arizona Game and Fish Department – Arizona Fish Consumption Advisory List: http://www.azgfd.gov/h_f/fish_consumption.shtml

Kaibab National Forest to conduct prescribed burn near Kendrick Mountain

Posted on by

WILLIAMS — Fire managers with the Kaibab National Forest plan to conduct a series of prescribed burns starting tomorrow and continuing through Monday near Kendrick Mountain on the Williams Ranger District in order to reduce hazardous fuels and increase ecosystem health and forest resiliency.

About 2,700 acres are scheduled to be treated to the west of the Kendrick Mountain Wilderness boundary and approximately 11 miles north of Parks, Ariz., using a combination of hand and aerial ignition techniques. The area has been treated with fire in the recent past, so the scheduled prescribed fire is considered a maintenance burn, which should result in less smoke production than a first-entry burn due to lesser accumulations of forest fuels.

Winds are predicted to be from the south southwest, which should push smoke north and east across Kendrick Mountain. Smoke is expected to dissipate quickly but could still be present in the immediate area in the vicinity of Pumpkin Center. It may also be visible from Highway 180 and from Interstate 40 near Parks, Ariz.

All prescribed burning on the Kaibab National Forest is subject to approval by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and appropriate weather conditions. For additional information on the Smoke Management Division of the ADEQ and to view prescribed burns authorized on any given day, please visit http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/smoke/index.html.

Kaibab National Forest fire information is also available through the following resources: InciWeb http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4112/; Kaibab National Forest Fire Information Phone Line (928) 635-8311; Text Message – text ‘follow kaibabnf’ to 40404.
800-kendrick-1